One pilot died when two small planes collided in the air and crashed at an air show in northern Switzerland yesterday, police said.

The two planes were part of a formation of three and they crashed at around 11:15am after they touched each other in the air, according to Meinrad Stoecklin, a spokesman for police in Basel-Landschaft.

The automatic rescue system of the first plane didn't activate and the 50-year-old pilot, whose identity wasn't revealed, died as his plane crashed into a barn in the centre of the village of Dittingen. Nobody else was hurt in the crash.

The pilot of the second plane managed to escape by parachute and wasn't injured.